Kim Kardashian, right, and Kanye West, seen before a Miami Heat game on Dec. 6, recently announced that Kardashian is pregnant..The Associated Press
/ Postmedia News

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian celebrate New Years Eve countdown at 1OAK Nightclub at the Mirage on December 31, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Denise Truscello
/ Getty Images

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2012 file photo, television personality Kim Kardashian poses for photographers at the red carpet during the 40th anniversary of Cosmopolitan magazine in Spanish in Mexico City. Kanye West announced at a concert in Atlantic City Sunday night, Dec. 30, 2012 that his girlfriend Kardashian is pregnant. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

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Kim Kardashian, 32, race walked the red carpet Friday night as part of her gig hosting the annual Iced party at Cowboys Dancehall. Usually quite the poser, Kardashian barely stopped for the cameras assembled to catch her arrival. A few quick frames for the assembled horde, then she was off to her duties inside the club.

The star of such shows as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami rocketed to the top of the pop culture list once again this week with news of her pregnancy. Kardashian’s boyfriend, rapper Kanye West, announced the couple are expecting during a performance in New Jersey on Sunday.

“We love Kim,” said Lindsay Abbey, a Calgarian who scooped up early-bird tickets along with best friend Jackie Hilton. The pair, passionate in their support for Kardashian, arrived when the doors opened at 6 p.m. to score seats along the centre dance floor in front of the stage at Cowboys. (Interesting point: the longer the line got to enter the club, the shorter the skirts got. The heels were ridiculously high no matter the time.)

Tickets to share the same rarified airspace as Kardashian came in two levels: the high-end ones — including a reception and group photo with Kardashian — rang in at $299.99, while entrance to the party ran $49.99. But those who acted fast snapped up early-bird tickets for $29.99.

Lindsay Abbey, left, and Jackie Hilton staked out their seats early at the Kim Kardashian-hosted event at Cowboys on Friday.

“We’re not expecting much. We think she might be here for about 20 minutes,” said Hilton.

And Kardashian fulfilled those expectations: after posing for photos at the front of the stage, she and her entourage took to the large white couch at the centre of the stage and sat there. Some talked, some texted. That was it. There was no dancing, no interacting with fans, no there there. It was like she was on display in some celebrity zoo, everyone gawking and taking pictures with their cellphones held over their heads.

Abbey made it clear that she has little time for those who question the validity of Kardashian’s celebrity.

“People ask, ‘What is she good for?’ She has a multimillion-dollar business. She has her fashion business, her perfume, her TV shows, her book, her cosmetic line.”

That’s the kind of devotion Penny Lane Entertainment, which owns Cowboys, counted on when it booked Kardashian, said vice-president Scarlett Lee.

“A lot of our clientele are really big fans of Kim and her show,” Lee said, and Kardashian’s star power fit into the club’s efforts to deliver a “wow experience” to its customers.

“We weren’t sure what to expect,” Lee said about the media coverage, “but we realized her star power. And the timing of the pregnancy announcement definitely sparked more buzz.”

Approximately 50 media were accredited for the event, with TMZ.com and In Style joining local outlets outside the velvet rope on the red carpet. (The joke was on all of us, though, as Kardashian didn’t say a peep or pose for multiple angles.) Penny Lane wouldn’t say how much it paid the bestselling author (not making that up) to come to Calgary, but her fee for hosting a New Year’s Eve party in Las Vegas clocked in at $600,000 or so, according to various websites.

Kardashian and her slightly less famous siblings Kourtney and Khloe have parlayed their reality TV fame into a burgeoning empire, aided by their manager mom, Kris Jenner. (Yes, she is married to that Jenner, Bruce.) They run boutiques in Los Angeles, Miami and New York City, while their Kardashian Collection clothing line is available at Sears in the States and at the Dorothy Perkins chain in the U.K.

Kardashian first entered the public eye following the 2007 release of a 2004 sex tape she made with then-boyfriend singer Ray J, the brother of the singer Brandy. (She sued and was later awarded $5 million.) Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered later that year and she hasn’t looked back. The series was just renewed for two more seasons by E!, at a reported cost of $50 million.

It’s been widely reported that Kardashian’s divorce from her second husband, NBA player Kris Humphries, still isn’t finalized. She filed the papers on Oct. 31, 2011, 72 days into their marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. Their wedding, which was televised as a two-part special on E! , reportedly cost $6 million.

While some of the approximately 1,000 people at Cowboys paid the big bucks to meet KK in person, others in the upstairs VIP area managed to score seats without the pricey tickets. The trio of “professional ladies” (not what it sounds like) declined to be I.D.’d but shared my wonder at what was taking place before us. “They are sitting on a couch texting and she got paid 200K to be here,” one marvelled.

(Again, not sure how much Kardashian scored for her Calgary quickie, but it was a topic of much discussion amongst many of those at Cowboys. Also up for discussion, this one mainly among the photogs: National Geographic’s Instagram account has 725,000 followers; Kardashian’s has six million.)

Amanat Suri made the trip to Calgary from Edmonton along with two male friends to see Kardashian and gladly forked over $300 each. “We are obsessed with her butt. It’s perfect,” Suri said, sitting at a table in the upstairs area, waiting for their turn to have their pictures taken with the night’s main attraction. “Honestly, I want to see if she is that pretty in real life.”

And now that she’s seen Kardashian across the bar? “I think she is that pretty.” Later on, I spotted Suri wiping tears from her eyes after the trio had their picture taken with the star. “I was crying! I am an emotional wreck.” (Stranger things happened. Two men in their mid-20s hugged it out after their picture with Kardashian, followed by an enthusiastic chest bump.)

And despite a printed warning at the VIP sign in not to touch Kim K., Kardashian hugged many a stranger during the controlled chaos of her photo shoot with those who paid for the privilege.

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